Mayors, police seek help with gang problems

Gannett News Service -- Mayors and law-enforcement officials convened at the Statehouse today to urge legislators to pass a package of bills they say is crucial to combating New Jersey's escalating gang problem.

"This is not an urban problem. It's an urban, suburban and rural problem. Gangs are everywhere," said East Orange Mayor Robert Bowser, chairman of the New Jersey League of Municipalities' Gang Prevention and Youth Violence Task Force.

The League of Municipalities and the New Jersey Conference of Mayors are pushing for six bills to become law.

"What we want are the tools to make all the citizens of New Jersey safe," said James Deegan, deputy police chief in Elizabeth.

The proposals would create a gun court pilot program in Essex and Mercer counties, require school boards to offer instruction on gang violence prevention to elementary school students and increase the penalties for both unlawful possession of an assault firearm and unlawfully transferring a firearm to a minor.

Proposed laws would also direct about $4 million to pilot anti-violence programs in Camden, Jersey City Newark and Trenton - an idea advanced Monday by an Assembly committee - and let municipalities enact ordinances against gang-related loitering.

"We must do something about the undesirables standing on the corner," Camden Mayor Gwendolyn Faison said. Loitering is bad for Camden businesses and makes many senior citizens afraid to leave their homes, Faison said.

Mayors acknowledged that within a tight state budget, it may be difficult to get funding. "Let's face it, it's going to require money," said Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, president of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors.

A record 31 murders occurred in the capital city last year. Twenty-one were deemed to be gang-related. "We need funds. This is an issue. This is domestic terrorism," Palmer said.

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Mayors, police seek help with gang problems

Gannett News Service -- Mayors and law-enforcement officials convened at the Statehouse today to urge legislators to pass a package of bills they say is crucial to combating New Jersey's escalating